AS Wales continues to be affected by drought due to soaring summer temperatures, a plane flying out of Haverfordwest airport is photographing newly revealed footprints of ancient buildings.

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales has been taking to the skies from Haverfordwest Airport to capture aerial images of cropmarks in fields across Wales.

These outlines have appeared under ripening crops and parched grasses due to the long July heatwave.

They often reveal the outlines of ancient buildings, some of which have never been seen before by archaeologists.

Dr Toby Driver, Senior Aerial Investigator, said: “I’ve not seen conditions like this since I took over the archaeological flying at the Royal Commission in 1997.

“So much new archaeology is showing it is incredible; the urgent work in the air now will lead to months of research in the office in the winter months to map and record all the sites which have been seen, and reveal their true significance.”

All four flights made by the commission have begun in Haverfordwest, with stopovers in Caernarfon, as well as Welshpool and Gloucester.

Surveying and photographing all the different regions of Wales requires long hours in the cockpit for Toby and the pilot.

One of the biggest surprises for the investigators was in the Vale of Glamorgan, where the severe drought revealed new information about a well-known prehistoric settlement.

The crop marks showed the outline of a Roman Villa within the modified ramparts of the settlement, a rare example of a kind of construction also found at Whitton Lodge in Glamorgan and Trelissey, near Amroth.

The warm weather is expected to continue into next week, when rain could finally return to the British Isles.

See more from the Royal Commission's investigative flights at its website.